The ongoing saga involving Cincinnati
Police Chief James Craig and his nonexistent policing powers will
continue into July, as a hearing scheduled for Thursday has been
continued. Craig's attorneys will argue in front of the Ohio Peace
Officer Training Commission that his prior experience, and
certification in three other states, should exempt him from a state
rule requiring all officers pass a certification exam before earning
police powers. Craig believes he was hired to do things other than
study for an entry-level policing test, and some states would already
have certified him.

A statewide ban on texting while
driving moved through the Ohio House of Representatives yesterday and
is expected to be signed into law by Gov. John Kasich. The law makes
the writing, sending or reading of a text message while driving a
secondary offense, meaning officers may not pull over an adult driver
for the act. Teens, however, under House Bill 99 will be prohibited
from using any electronic device other than GPS and may be pulled
over for it.

Kasich on Tuesday followed through with
the GOP plan to overturn its own controversial election law that was
to go before voters in November. State Republicans and election
officials now say there's no reason for the law to go in front of
voters thanks to the 300,000 signatures gathered by President Obama's
re-election campaign and other opponents, but opponents of the
election law point out that the repeal still reaffirms an election
law change that would end early voting the weekend before an
election. Democrats plan to keep the issue on the ballot.

But people on both sides of the issue
say there's no precedent for a legislative repeal of a bill that also
is the subject of a referendum, so it's unclear how a court might
rule if a legal challenge is filed.

Jennifer Brunner, a former Democratic
secretary of state and a leader in the Fair Elections Ohio campaign
that brought the referendum, said Tuesday that the action taken by
Gov. John Kasich and Legislature doesn't force the removal of the
question from November ballots.

"Since this issue is a case of
first impression for any court, we do not see the statement of the
Secretary of State to be determinative on this issue," Brunner
said in an email. "The issue remains on the ballot."

More drama from Columbus: Republicans
are moving forward with a test program requiring some welfare
recipients to submit to drug testing in order to continue receiving
benefits. Opponents say the process stigmatizes the poor, while the
GOP says it's just a simple process involving poor people paying the
upfront costs for drug tests, being reimbursed if they pass and
living on the streets for six months if they fail.

Northern Kentucky leaders plan to use
the revitalization of Over-the-Rhine as a model for reinvesting in
their urban core. A nonprofit organization has raised $10 million
during the past five years to get started spurring commercial and
residential investment.

Two Kentucky high school students who
were turned away from their senior prom for arriving as a same-sex
couple have argued that if their Catholic high school wants to ban
students based on upholding the church's teachings, such a
ban should include couples who have had premarital sex and kids who
plan to get wasted after the prom.

Apparently viewers of Harry's Law,
which was set in Cincinnati and used a stage-version of Arnold's as
the lawyer gang's regular hangout, are too old to attract advertising
dollars despite their relatively high numbers.

The show ranked very low among viewers
ages 18 to 49, the demographic most advertisers care about. In fact,
its young-adult numbers were beneath those for "Prime Suspect,"
a cop show that NBC canceled earlier this season, and roughly on par
with those of "Off Their Rockers," the Betty White show
about senior citizens pulling pranks on younger people.

"It was a difficult decision,"
an NBC executive said Sunday, quoted by the site Deadline.com.
"Everyone here respects 'Harry's Law' a lot but we were finding
it hard to grow the audience for it. Its audience skewed very old and
it is hard to monetize that."

We don't see much of Bush these days.
He's the president that a lot of people would like to forget, still
so toxic that he's widely considered more likely to hurt than
help the Republican Party by participating in the 2012 campaign.

Bush's speech Tuesday morning was a
rare exception. He spoke in a small, nondescript room to about 200
people about democracy activists, promoting a human rights campaign
that's part of the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

His presence on the national stage is
perhaps best seen in his presence on the small stage at 1777 F
Street. At the end of the affair, Bush and his wife were called back
up to be presented with writings by Czech human rights icon Vaclav
Havel. They posed for pictures as the audience clapped, and when they
were done, Bush glanced around as if unsure what to do next.

He walked back to his seat, but then
quickly walked back onto the stage and behind the lectern. He leaned
forward into the microphone, paused, and said slyly, "Thanks for
coming."

The private group hoping to purchase
Music Hall for $1 is now asking for $10 million in city contributions
to its effort to update the historic building, double the initial $5
million it asked for. The Music Hall Revitalization Co. says failing
to strike a deal before June 1 will jeopardize the proposed $165
million renovation. Among the updates the city is being asked to fund
are $75,000 buffers to block noise from the streetcar and a $150,000
escrow account to pay for any future disruptions due to the
streetcar.

City Council yesterday spent some time
considering ways to fix the city's retirement fund deficit.
Cincinnati's retirement board wants the city to contribute $67
million to the pension system this year, though Council has
reportedly contributed only about half of that.

CVG today will unveil its updated
Concourse A, which has undergone a $36.5 million renovation. It is part of the
airports attempt to lure a low-cost airline to the hub that formerly
housed Delta.

Cleveland is the first Ohio city to
open one of the state's four new casinos, drawing about 5,000 to a
grand opening last night. Cincinnati's casino is expected to be the
last of the four to open, with Hollywood casinos scheduled to open in
Toledo May 29 and in Columbus this fall. Cincinnati's' Horseshoe is
scheduled to open next year.

Prosecutors today decided to bring
charges against former News of the World editor Rebekah
Brooks, who along with her husband and four others will be charged
with conspiring to pervert the course of justice. The alleged
incidents occurred in response the phone hacking allegations, and the
charges are apparently quite embarrassing to Rupert Murdoch and
British Prime Minister David Cameron.

JP Morgan today said, “Surprise! We
lost a bunch of money!” Two years after congress tightened
regulations on Wall Street, the industry now fears that regulators
will now listen to their fears even less as they enact stricter
reforms.

National police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar, responding to the
pressure, said Tuesday that the permit for her June 3 "Born This
Way Ball" concert had been denied.

Indonesia, a nation of 240 million people, has more Muslims than
any other. Although it is secular and has a long history of religious
tolerance, a small extremist fringe has become more vocal in recent
years.

Hard-liners have loudly criticized Lady Gaga, saying the
suggestive nature of her show threatened to undermine the country's
moral fiber. Some threatened to use physical force to prevent her
from stepping off the plane.

Bike to Work Week today kicked off its
series of morning commuter stations offering free coffee and treats
all week long in an effort to encourage residents to try cycling to
work, meet fellow cyclists and learn about bike advocacy. The city
was scheduled to announce an award for its Bike Program this morning
at the Coffee Emporium bike commuter station on Central Parkway in
Over-the-Rhine.

Find a schedule of Bike to Work Week
morning and afternoon commuter stations here.

The Enquirer over the weekend
checked in with another of its “in-depth” pieces, this one
detailing the huge amounts of money energy companies will make once they're allowed to treat northeastern Ohio's land like
they do Texas. The story accurately described the fracking process as
“controversial,” though it took the liberty of describing Carroll
County as an “early winner” because 75 to 95 percent of its land
is under lease to an oil or gas company. Here's a link to the weird
slideshow-style presentation. And here's a sidebar on the issues
surrounding fracking, which includes the following regarding the
industry's oversight:

Fracking was exempted from the federal
Safe Drinking Water Act under the Bush Administration, so it now
falls under state jurisdiction. In Ohio, the Department of Natural
Resources issues permits for all oil and gas wells, including
fracking wells. The department also inspects the drilling of all
wells in the state.

The New York Times came to Ohio
to see how the good, working class folks feel about the president who
has spent three-and-a-half years trying to help people like them
during a recession he didn't start. Turns out many still won't vote
for him because he's still black.

Ohio State University has released a
plan to combat hate crimes in response to several incidents on its
campus this spring. The "No Place to Hate" plan includes 24
recommendations including a public safety division “hate crime
alert” line staffed by operators. The OSU campus reportedly had a
mural of President Obama defaced and found spray-painted messages
supporting the death of Trayvon Martin.

Gov. John Kasich has something to say
to anyone waiting on federal funding to help fix their bridges (and
while we're at it, any local governments who need funding for
something other than food and water): Forget about it. During an interview with Enquirer editors and reporters yesterday,*
Kasich said tolls are the best means for funding a new Brent Spence
Bridge.

“I do not believe that a white
charger is going to come galloping (from Washington) into Cincinnati
with $2 billion in the saddlebags,” Kasich said. “So if that
isn’t going to happen and all we do is delay, delay, delay and we
push this thing out until 2036 ... holy cow!”

* CityBeat had a similar meeting
scheduled but we forgot about it and weren't here at the time —
sorry Kasich, we'll get ya next time!

Things are about to get weird in a
Clermont County courtroom if David Krikorian and Chris Finney get
their wish — to have Jean Schmidt on the witness stand on May 17.
Finney, the attorney for Citizens Opposed to Additional Spending and
Taxes (COAST), has been representing Krikorian, a former Democratic
and independent candidate who unsuccessfully ran against Schmidt for
Ohio's 2nd congressional district seat, has served Schmidt with a
subpoena as part of Krikorian's lawsuit claiming a Schmidt lawsuit
against Krikorian was frivolous. COAST's ghost-written blog posted
commentary in February in response to accusations from Brad Wenstrup
that Schmidt was using campaign funds to pay off legal fund debt from
earlier campaign nonsense against Krikorian. Eastsiders mad.

Some high-level Procter & Gamble
executives are getting the Bearcat Bounce out of Cincinnati, heading
to Singapore where the company believes growth opportunities for its
beauty care products are the highest. About 20 positions will be
moved to the Singapore office during the next two years.

British Prime Minister David Cameron
only recently learned what LOL means in text-speak. The explanation
occurred during witness testimony from Rebekah Brooks, the former
head of Rupert Murdoch's the now-defunct News of the World.
Brooks was forced to resign last year amid a phone-hacking scandal.

"He would sign them off 'DC' in the main," Brooks
said, referring to Cameron's initials. "Occasionally he would
sign them off 'LOL' — 'lots of love' — until I told him it meant
'laugh out loud,' and then he didn't sign them off [that way]
anymore."

It was certainly an LOL moment during Brooks' testimony in a
London courtroom Friday as part of a judicial inquiry into media
ethics. But the disclosure also underscored the warm personal ties
between the prime minister and Brooks, the former head of media baron
Rupert Murdoch's British newspapers who was forced to resign in
disgrace last summer.

Major League Baseball phenom Bryce
Harper is in town for a three-game series with his Washington
Nationals. The 19-year-old was the No. 1 overall pick in 2010 and is
the first superstar-caliber player to make it to the big leagues this
quickly prompting comparisons to Ken Griffey, Jr. at that age. Here's
the local spin about on freak outfielder coming to town for a
weekend series against the Reds.

In news you've likely already heard
from your favorite website, social network, radio station, print
publication, TV or the guy in your neighborhood who likes to talk
about current events, President Barack Obama yesterday announced his
support for same-sex marriage, becoming the first-ever sitting
president to do so. The news has spawned analysis from across the
land, ranging from “risky but inevitable” to “matters less than
you think.” The Enquirer says the decision is going to “echo in
Ohio” (whatever that means).

The “No. 2 official at the Hamilton
County Sheriff’s Office” says the jail being next to the casino
will be bad for business, according to an Enquirer story detailing
worries over jail overcrowding leading to accused criminals to go
into the casino to “get warm, panhandle customers or just give
visitors a bad impression of Cincinnati.”

Hamilton County Commissioner Todd
Portune yesterday cancelled a new truck order for Paul Brown Stadium,
instead giving the vehicles to Parking Operations. Parking Operations
was supposed to get the stadium's used trucks after the stadium
received new ones, but Portune said the stadium doesn't need brand
new stuff all the time.

Up north, Columbus Mayor Michael
Coleman says his city wants an NBA basketball team now that the
public has purchased the arena the Columbus Blue Jackets play in.

Facebook will soon launch an App
Center, because it's so annoying to have to leave Facebook to get
cool new apps.

Famous hairdresser Vidal Sassoon died
yesterday after a bout with leukemia. He apparently played a large
role in creating “wash and go” hairstyling and later
revolutionizing the hair-care industry. Here's a Philadelphia
Inquirer obit. And five ways Vidal Sassoon changed people's hair. Sassoon, according to the book Insider's Guide to Cincinnati, had a home in Mount Adams (his wife was a Greater Cincinnati native).

City Council is
considering increasing cab fares prior to the World Choir Games in
July as part of an overhaul of the city’s taxi industry. During a
Rules and Government Operations Committee meeting Monday, Councilman
Wendell Young described the industry as having little regulation and
often undesirable experiences, The Enquirer reports. Council last
spring removed a city rule that made it illegal to hail a cab. Among
the recommendations expected to be made are the standardization of
rates, an increase in the number of permanent taxi stands and the
visible display of a Customer Bill of Rights.

The two men hired to
beat a Columbia Tusculum man over a property dispute admitted in
court yesterday to having been paid by Robert Fritzsch to whoop on
Tom Nies Jr. The beaters will avoid jail time in exchange for
testifying against Fritzsch. The beating was allegedly a retaliation after a court ordered the removal of Fritzsch's addition to his home that blocked the river view of Nies' house.

Robert Chase is a
member of Ohio’s oil and gas commission, in addition to operating a
private consulting firm that deals with many of the private companies
interested in making mass money off the state’s drilling leases.
The Ohio Ethics Commission this week warned Chase that such consulting
work could present a conflict of interest, though Chase says he’s
not surprised and that he knows what his ethical responsibilities
are.

NBC has picked up a
sitcom set in Cincinnati starring Anne Heche, who reportedly plays an
Indian Hill housewife who believes she can channel God after
surviving an accident involving nearly choking on a sandwich (with
humorous results?). The show, which will have a 13-episode first season, is titled Save Me.

The Obama
administration might be hinting at considering same-sex marriage
rights during a second term, but the folks down in North Carolina are
having none of it: A state constitutional amendment to ban gay
marriage and civil unions is on today’s ballot, despite the
existence of a state statute that already outlaws it.

During an event near
Cleveland yesterday, a woman asked Romney if he thinks President
Obama is "operating outside the structure of our Constitution,"
and "should be tried for treason."

Romney did not
respond to the treason comment, but instead criticized Obama's recent
comments on the Supreme Court -- drawing a rebuke from the Obama
campaign.

Romney says he doesn’t
correct all the questions that are asked of him and that he obviously
doesn’t believe Obama should be tried for treason. USA Today
pointed out that the incident is similar to one that occurred during
the 2008 election, which John McCain handled quite differently:

It was one of the
defining moments of the 2008 presidential campaign: A woman at a
rally for Republican John McCain, while asking McCain a question,
called Democratic contender Barack Obama "an Arab" who
couldn't be trusted.

McCain took the
microphone and said, "No ma'am. He's a decent family man ... who
I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues."
McCain's response symbolized his discomfort with the volatile crowds
he was seeing as his campaign faded during the final days of the 2008
race.

Plans to put a culture tax in front of voters have been put on hold due to a potential conflict with a
Cincinnati Zoo tax renewal levy that will be on the 2013 ballot. Backers of the culture tax — a 0.25
percentage-point sales tax increase that would raise $30 million
annually — fear that overlapping the tax increase and levy could be
confusing and potentially hurt the chances of either to be approved.
The culture tax will likely be put on the 2014 ballot.

City Council this fall will consider a
new form-based development code that will allow individual
neighborhoods to create their own codes that supporters say will reinforce
neighborhoods' existing urban fabric while aiding in development. Supporters include the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce
and Downtown Cincinnati Inc. “For developers, there is more
predictability and basically no battles. And once they know the
parameters, (developers) can really turn their creativity loose,”
David Ginsburg, president and CEO of Downtown Cincinnati Inc., told The Enquirer.

The Enquirer on Sunday checked in on
the state's higher education situation, finding that many recent
college graduates and families of potential college students are
wondering if college is even worth it considering the high cost —
“total student loan debt is nearing $1 trillion, or more than
$20,000 for each graduate” — and lack of guaranteed return —
“government data this year show that fully half of graduates 25 or
younger are either unemployed or working in a job that doesn’t use
the skills they learned in college." No word on whether Enquirer-endorsed Gov. John Kasich thinks his kids should skip college and go straight into the service industry.

A record number of participants ran in this year's Flying Pig Marathon over the weekend. The winners were Californian Sergio Reyes, who also won the men's race in 2009, and Rachel Bea, a Kenwood resident.

Joe Biden says he is “comfortable”
with same-sex marriage, though he doesn't know the answer to the
question of whether a second-term Obama administration would come out
in favor of legalizing gay marriage.

Europe's election results have gone and
spooked the markets, due to political uncertainty in Greece and the
defeat of French President Nicolas Sarkozy by Socialist Francois
Hollande.

An ad campaign linking global warming
believers to terrorists only lasted a few hours before public outcry
forced the Heartland Institute, a libertarian organization funded by
a bunch of corporations who don't want to stop polluting the earth,
to take them down. One billboard included Ted Kaczynski's mug shot
with the words: “I still believe in Global Warming. Do you?”

Sen. Rob Portman is
sitting on more cash than nearly all of his GOP colleagues in the
Senate, despite the fact that he’s not up for re-election until
2016. There has been widespread speculation that Portman is a
Republican vice presidential candidate, and only three Senators have
more money on-hand than his Promoting Our Republican Team PAC
(PORTPAC) leadership committee.

Companies upstream from
Cincinnati have been dumping pollutants into the Ohio River since the
1940s, and federal authorities have reached a $5.5 million settlement
to start cleaning it all up. Eighteen companies and several federal
agencies will collectively contribute to restoring the Ashtabula
River and Harbor in northeast Ohio. Here's the latest from Dredging Today (the authoritative voice of underwater excavation activity and other earth-altering digs).

Locals who have
recently “pimped their rides” might want to read up on a bill
passed by Ohio lawmakers yesterday that bans hidden compartments in
vehicles. Police don’t want to have to open those fancy
compartments to check whether there are drugs inside or just a
10th tiny TV. Hear that, Colerain?

Here’s what Obama and
his advisers do on Sundays (after the prez’s round of golf, of
course): size up Mitt Romney.

U.S. job growth was
down in April, adding only 115,000 positions after seeing 154,000
added in March. The unemployment rate dropped .1 percentage point to
8.1 percent, largely due to workers leaving the labor force.
Republicans have some thoughts on the matter (Obama’s fault).

"If you examine
how I conduct myself," Nugent said, "I don't think a day
goes by in my life for many, many years now that we don't do charity
work for children. ... Call me when you sit down across from someone
who has more families with dying little boys and girls who get a call
to take them on their last fishing trip in life.

"Call me,"
Nugent continued in a raised, irritated voice, "when you meet
someone who does that more than I do. Because that's really moderate.
In fact, you know what that is? That's extreme. ... I'm an extremely
loving, passionate man, and people who investigate me honestly,
without the baggage of political correctness, ascertain the
conclusion that I'm a damned nice guy. ... And if you can find a
screening process more powerful than that, I'll [expletive]. Or
[expletive]. How's that sound?"

Headline: “Tech world
is out for blood.” Apparently Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson’s decision
to start a patent war was not such a good idea.

New York Yankees future
Hall of Fame pitcher Mariano Rivera tore his ACL during pregame
batting practice yesterday, putting the 42-year-old’s career in
jeopardy. There had already been speculation that Rivera would retire
after this season, and recovery from ACL surgery usually takes more
than nine months.

City Council on Wednesday
overwhelmingly passed a measure that will offer benefits to domestic
partners of city employees. The measure was introduced by Councilman Chris
Seelbach and passed 8-1, the lone “no” vote coming from Charlie
Winburn. Seelbach told The Enquirer that domestic partner benefits
not only affect same-sex couples, but are also applicable to
non-married partners, which is an added attraction to lure talented
employees to the city. Covington officials passed a similar
measure Tuesday.

If you owe the city of Cincinnati any
parking fines, now would be a good time to pay them. Cincinnati
police are going to start hearing descriptions of vehicles with
multiple outstanding tickets during roll call and then head out to
find them during patrols.

Eric Deters wants to be a real lawyer
again. The attorney/radio personality/cage fighter says his current
predicament — Kentucky law license suspension — is mostly because
someone making the rulings “hates him” and is not due to the “ethical
lapses” that caused his original 61-day suspension. If Deters can't
get the Kentucky Supreme Court to help him out he'll have to go in
front of a Character and Fitness Committee and explain all the crazy
stuff he's done.

New Osama bin Laden documents published
online by the U.S. Government show concern over Muslim distrust of
his organization before he was killed last May, and much of which was due to the high numbers of civilians it was responsible for killing.

It's not very fun to be John Edwards
these days. Already charged with using $1 million in campaign money
to hide a pregnant mistress, testimony in his case for violating
campaign finance laws has revealed that his mistress had a better
idea in response to the National Enquirer's report on the affair: She
wanted to say she was abducted by aliens.

Target is done selling Kindles, and
although it didn't give a reason analysts suspect it is in response
to Amazon's attempts to get retailers who see the products in a store
to then purchase them online. Amazone last holiday season indroduced
a Price Check app that offered in-store price comparisons and up to a
$15 discount online.

Retired NFL linebacker Junior Seau was
found dead at his home yesterday in an apparent suicide. Seau, who
played in the NFL for parts of 20 seasons, was found shot to death.
He was 43.

Burke: Poll workers aren't 'election police'

The local Republican Party
this week sent a mass email to its members with a message from Ohio Secretary
of State Jon Husted, urging them to sign up as poll workers for this fall’s
presidential election.

Alex Triantafilou, chairman
of the Hamilton County Republican Party, sent the email Tuesday.

Husted noted that 40,000 poll
workers are needed across Ohio. “We can debate the efficacy of the law and
voting procedures until we are blue in the face, but the truth is that those
40,000 individuals can have more of an impact on the ultimate success of our
elections than the Secretary of State, lawmakers and judges combined,” he
wrote.

When informed about the
email, the head of Hamilton County’s Democratic Party said more poll workers always
are needed. But he is worried those spurred to apply because of Husted’s email
will do so due to the wrong motivation and potentially could cause problems at
the polls.

“Many of our poll workers
serve year after year in multiple elections,” said Tim Burke, Hamilton County Democratic
Party chairman. “Just because this November is a presidential election
doesn’t mean that our trained and experienced workers should be pushed aside by
those folks, on either side, who want to be poll workers in the presidential,
but not in other elections as well. That is a conversation I have had on a
number of occasions with the election protection leaders on the Democratic
side.”

Burke added, “The role of
poll workers should be to assist voters in voting correctly, and better than 99
percent of the time, that is what the poll workers — be they Democrats or
Republicans — properly do. I am hesitant to bring in poll workers who think
their role is to be election police who want to spend Election Day ferreting
out fraud and subjecting qualified voters to cross examinations.”

In Husted’s email, the
Secretary of State also acknowledged the partisan battle over the GOP-backed
push for voters to show a photo I.D. at polls.

“Unfortunately, the fact that
there is ‘room for improvement’ seems to be the only common ground we have been
able to find when it comes to elections reform,” Husted wrote. “The closer we
get to Election Day, the more heated the rhetoric on both sides will become.
One side believes the law is too restrictive and that legal voters are being suppressed.
The other side says the system is vulnerable to fraud because there aren't
enough checks to ensure only eligible voters are casting ballots.”

It should be noted that no
study has ever found evidence of widespread voter fraud.

In 2007, a five-year review
conducted by the U.S. Justice Department and ordered by President George W.
Bush found that just 120 people had been charged and 86 convicted as of 2006 —
a miniscule amount when compared to the number of eligible voters in the United
States.

Back then, The New York Times
wrote, “A federal panel, the Election Assistance Commission, reported last year
that the pervasiveness of fraud was debatable. That conclusion played down
findings of the consultants who said there was little evidence of it across the
country, according to a review of the original report by The New York Times
that was reported on Wednesday.”

The Times added, “Mistakes
and lapses in enforcing voting and registration rules routinely occur in
elections, allowing thousands of ineligible voters to go to the polls. But the
federal cases provide little evidence of widespread, organized fraud, prosecutors
and election law experts said.”

The Republican Party also
tried to raise allegations of voter registration fraud during the 2008 presidential
election, when it began looking like John McCain would lose. When pressed in
November 2008, a top official with the McCain- Palin “Honest and Open Election
Committee” couldn’t cite a single instance in which problems with fake voter
registrations resulted in phony votes being cast.

At Husted’s urging, Republican
state lawmakers recently acted to repeal portions of House Bill No. 194. Facing
a referendum on the law in November that could’ve increased Democratic voter
turnout, the repeal restores some opportunities for early voting and allows
poll workers to guide voters to the correct precinct.

In Hamilton County, Democrats
who want to be poll workers should call 513-632-7041; Republicans should call
513-632-7042.

Here is Husted’s text in its
entirety:

April 24, 2012

Dear Chairman Triantafilou,

As Secretary of State, my primary responsibility is to administer a fair
election where eligible voters can freely exercise their right to vote and
have complete confidence in the accuracy of the results. This is no easy
job because the reality is that the system by which we elect our political
leaders will never be perfect.

Unfortunately, the fact
that there is "room for improvement" seems to be the only common
ground we have been able to find when it comes to elections reform. The
closer we get to Election Day, the more heated the rhetoric on both sides
will become. One side believes the law is too restrictive and that legal
voters are being suppressed. The other side says the system is vulnerable
to fraud because there aren't enough checks to ensure only eligible voters
are casting ballots. I continue to believe that we can modernize our
elections system and strike the right balance between maintaining
convenience for voters and guarding against fraud. That balance is critical
and increasingly hard to achieve when the two sides are so far apart.

I firmly believe that the
place for critics is not on the sidelines, but on the field and there is
one way we can put all this energy to a better, more productive use. I am
encouraging all who are earnest in wanting a fair, well-run 2012
Presidential Election to join me on the front lines this November by
signing up to be poll workers. Encourage like-minded friends to do
the same.

It takes a team of approximately 40,000 to staff polling places around the
state, and each year all 88 county boards of elections struggle to find
enough people who are willing to take time out of their busy schedules to
serve. We can debate the efficacy of the law and voting procedures until we
are blue in the face, but the truth is that those 40,000 individuals can
have more of an impact on the ultimate success of our elections than the
Secretary of State, lawmakers and judges combined. It is Ohio's poll
workers who interact with each voter and, based on that interaction, have a
direct bearing on that voter's confidence in our system.

I am committed to working with all sides on election reforms in the future,
but for now let's put philosophical differences aside and do our part to
give each Ohio voter the best experience they can have at the polls this
November 6, 2012.